On the fence on either modding my ls1 or swapping it for a ls3… currently my ls1 is sitting at 56k miles and never really had any engine problems other than the oil pressure sensor but then again it was just the sensor, and the harmonic balancer but that’s fixed and upgraded aswell. Not looking to keep up with hellcats or nothing like that just want it to be a bit faster and more fun. If I was to keep my ls1 what would y’all recommend me to do? Budget it’s around 8k.

 

Put a supercharger on the lS1.

 

A&A supercharger kit! You'll have 500 HP at the wheels. Yet at the same time you can still drive it like a normal street car, and get good gas mileage. I LOVE mine. It's definitely the way to go over an LS3 engine swap,

 

What? The initial question makes no sense at all.

You have a nearly brand new LS1. Free. Already installed. The cost to LS3 swap and then mod the LS3 vs modding the LS1 is astronomical for the same power.

Before you go a single step further: What is your goal?

XXX horsepower?
1/4 mile timeslip?
Big-*** cam sound?
Autocross / HPDE?
Bragging rights only?
That pssssh pssssh sound?
Keeping up with the Joneses and their Mustang/Challenger/Supra/Fast Beater?

 

I asked about LS3 swap and have been told easier to sell my car and just buy a C6 with LS3.

The LS1 is a great engine, but LS3 is better and I have not driven one but it has improvements.

You could buy a LS3 long block for $5249.99, buy a new LS3 intake complete with fuel rails and fuel injectors and throttle body for about another grand.

The LS3 long block has no coil packs, would think you could swap your LS1 coil packs over.

Buy headers and pipes to go back to mufflers, don’t think it comes with exhaust manifolds and for this much work and $$ you didn’t want to run them anyways, need the Lingenfelter converter box to run LS3 on LS1 computer some adapter harnesses and a tune.

Might cost more than $8000.00 if you are doing everything yourself, I’m assuming you are, if you had a shop do the swap it would be very expensive.

You can buy LS3 in 2 other flavors, one with Hot cam, and next step up ASA cam, and you can buy these option on the LS3 long block also, but have heard these cams are not really that awesome, I decided (if I do LS3 swap) to buy the stock cam LS3 and run it, or have a cam company make a cam that will work best for the whole car setup.

Don’t think you are really getting a warranty from GM on these engines if you install yourself, if you had a C6 with a bad LS3 and had dealership replace the old engine with new and it’s factory stock, only then can you get a warranty, could be wrong but it makes sense to me.

So leave the stock LS3 in and run it with headers and tuned to run it’s best, it should outrun stock LS1, then come back later and upgrade cam and valve springs.

Or upgrade it now.

There are threads that say LS3 have tuning issues and when you romp on it, it goes into limp mode, so don’t floor it, hmm that defeats the whole purpose.

Just recently someone had issues and they came back and said it’s all good to go now, I was curious what they found and corrected.

Or just buy A and A or ECS supercharger, and stock internal LS1 with exhaust manifolds will make over 500 rwhp.

The supercharger sounds less expensive and much easier, but there is a chance of engine breaking parts, even if it’s a tiny chance you should be aware that you might have to buy a complete engine if everything got trashed.

I have decided to just maybe add 4.10 gears and a new clutch and everything in there, bolt on my LS6 intake, buy the cheap speed engineering headers and X pipe, maybe do the air filter zip tie mod, send ECM off to East Coast Supercharging if they still offer $150.00 mail in tune, and hope that satisfies me.

I mostly just romp on it getting on freeway on ramps if no cars ahead of me, and most of the other time just cruise around, trying to not get tickets.

 

A&A has been making and refining their C5 supercharger kit for decades. The LS1 is more than capable of running 8-10PSI of boost without ANY ISSUES AT ALL. As long as the kit is installed correctly, and you have a good tune, you don't have to worry about any sort of catastrophic engine failure. You will probably want to add a vented catch can to the system, but with a good tune, you're not going to blow up the engine.
Now, with that being said, depending on whether you have an automatic or a manual, you will need to do some upgrades. An Automatic will require an upgraded Transmission. I have a stage 5 transmission from RPM. If you have a manual, you'll need to upgrade your clutch. It's still going to be cheaper and easier than doing an LS3 swap.

 

The LS3 is an amazing engine and in many ways very superior to an LS1/2/7

I would NOT however go out of my way to swap one in unless my current engine is damaged beyond repair.

Even at that I would probably stick with a Gen 3 based engine and not deal with the stupid 58x converter box to make the engine run.

 

I don't know who this person is. They clearly know nothing. That was painful. I felt like I was reading notes from myself in high school when all I could do was repeat what I had read in Car Craft or GM High Tech Performance and had zero real world wrench or build experience.

Please don't pay much attention to anything they said.

LS1 and LS3 are option codes for the engines. Not the second name of Jesus to be worshipped. If anyone thinks a 56k miles LS anything is tired and can't be built or needs replacing, please go watch several hours of Sloppy Mechanics as they dyno 225k miles 4.8 van engines with turbos and cams making 600 to 1000 rwhp, hit 8 second passes and do burnouts for distance. Engines are not filled with magic. They are air pumps.

So the OP's goals are: " just want it to be a bit faster and more fun" and that to me sounds more like keep it stock and add a blower than H/C/I build.

 

You are saying the 4L60 can't handle 500hp in a street car?

 

500 to the wheels is right on the bleeding edge of what the stock A4 can handle. You might get lucky for awhile, but eventually it will fail. For me, that failure happened on the dyno when they were tuning my A&A kit. The trans started slipping very badly. When they drained the fluid, there where tiny pieces of 3rd gear mixed in with it. I contacted RPM Transmission, and they hooked me up with their level V 4L60e. I highly recommend them. They gave me fantastic advice. I was considering upgrading my torque converter as well, but I ended up putting in a new OEM unit as it better matched with my goals for the car (which seem similar to the OP's goals).
The T-56 can handle 500 to the wheels with no problem at all. However, you will eventually cook the clutch. You can wait until it happens, or just upgrade when you do the A&A install.

 

Agreed on both comments re 4L60E and T56. I don't have a power range in mind for the factory auto, just that know that it will go eventually if you're making good power so have a plan.

The T56 will handle a good tarring. Heck, even technically broken it will continue to work. I just waited for the factory clutch to wear, well... finally shatter, and when that normal service came due I upgraded to a lightweight flywheel and on that car an RST clutch. 7+ years later and it remains happy and smooth despite 4 years behind 10psi of boost.

The autos can be built and tuned to handle the power. I didn't go that route. But I regularly read the experiences of others on here who are on #2, #3, etc. On other vehicles with LSs or swaps you often see them seeking out the 4L80E as being the stronger case to put behind a strong engine.

 

This makes no sense.... What WILL make sense is How about you spend your money on a session or a full season of SCCA "driving school" with the LS1 there is enough power for you to "just have more fun"... You'll be safer.

 

That is missing the point entirely. But I hear you.

 

My 2 cents.... a 56K mile LS1 is G-O-L-D for value. I suspect you could get $3500 for the long block if your patient. That would pay for nearly 40% the LS3 swap.

Now to live with as a toy car (not a daily driver) I'd rather have the LS1 w/centrifugal supercharger. Or... maybe go really steep gears in the rear w/full bolt on's, ported heads and a mild cam for drivability. You'd have about the same level of RWTQ and it would be a theatrical driver.

IMO the LS3 is a great engine but I'd not swap a perfectly good engine for one. A bad engine... absolutely.

 

Heads and cam. I get lots of people boost the stock LS1. If you’re doing it right, the balancer needs to be pulled and pinned to the crank. If you’ve got stock lifters and rockers, those gotta go before I’d boost. The LS1 lifter design is no bueno. Same with the rockers. The stock ls1 heads are really restrictive. Heads and cam you’ll get mid 400 hp and it’ll sound like it. Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your decision

 

Wrong. And wrong.

Balancer is not removed to drill and insert the pin.

Lifters are fine.


Now... If you change the cam then I'd go with fresh lifters just so you have a non worn surfaces mating with one another. And most folks doing a cam also do heads, so springs, rocker bushings, and pushrods are part of the deal since you are changing the severity and depth with which those parts move.

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Keep the LS1 or buy a faster car

 

"swap LS3" and "8k budget"....not happening.

Toss on HCI and full exhaust on the LS1 and call it a day. Should be around 400-450hp. Plenty of pep for a street car.

 

I added in an AA super w/ cam, I'm at 530hp at the wheels.
by the time we got all the parts in, took the installer (I really just didn't want to do it myself) less than a week to install. And even at NY labor prices, it really wasn't that expensive.

So depends on what you want -- you can seriouly outperform a stock ls3 with a fairly straightforward, mature, tried and true SC and cam. Or --- swap it out. Which I understand isn't *that* big a deal, but to what end? Unless you're just dead set against super charging, dropping in an LS3 just doesn't seem to make much sense to me.

And by the way, I did my swap right around the same time you did -- at 50 k miles.

 

Just my opinion...over 450hp in a street car that sees no form of racing is a waste. I know all the SC lovers will disagree since, well they own a SC car LOL. Even then a SC in a racing application is adding complexity and heat at which point I question reliability.

Autocrossing and hopefully seeing some road racing makes any kind of "street fun" kind of boring to me. 600hp straight line pulls I'd get bored of...of and replacing rear tires lol. Give me a 300hp Miata with some curves and sticky tires and I'll show you some fun. Pinned in the seat in a straight line is cute...pinned against the door around a turn on the verge of hearing tire squeal is a riot.

If OP's motor was toast and the question was to rebuild it or swap a LS3....I'd vote go LS3 with a simple cam upgrade and it will last forever, but $8K is still a stretch lol.